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BLANCHET & Associés
225
-
Emnoli Kota mask, Gabon, wood, kaolin, H.
See original version (French)
225
-
Emnoli Kota mask, Gabon, wood, kaolin, H.
See original version (French)
Estimate €500 - €700
Voluntary lot
Description
Emnoli Kota mask, Gabon, wood, kaolin, H.95xW.26cm.While respecting the expressionist standards of Kota sculpture, this large emboli mask is one of the most astonishing known from the Ivindo basin region. The face is very elongated, with powerful superciliary arches marked by four interlocking wrinkles, highlighting eyes with swollen eyelids. The modernity of the sculptural gesture is matched by that of the pictorial decoration, in broad alternating flat tints of white and black pigments. The emboli (also known as mboto-mwa-bèmpoli) is a forest spirit that manifests itself during the Satsi initiation of adolescents, among the Kota, Mahongwe and Shamaye peoples of the Makokou and Mékambo regions (eastern Gabon). These masks, of which there were many until the 1950s, became rare over the decades as village initiations were gradually abandoned.
See original version (French)
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Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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